DANIELLE GREEN STANDING UP FOR THE NORTH

People living in Melbourne’s booming north will be connected to train services for the first time, with the Andrews Labor Government getting on with the Mernda Rail Extension.
The Victorian Budget 2016/17 provides $588 million to fully fund and deliver the project.

The City of Whittlesea’s new cutting edge Tech School will be located at Melbourne Polytechnics in the heart of Epping.
The Whittlesea (Epping Campus) Tech School’s industry focus will be medical and pharmaceutical technology and new energy, giving our local students an important skills boost in these growing sectors.
Member for Yan Yean, Danielle Green said she is thrilled the Whittlesea Tech School is taking shape and that Melbourne Polytechnics, Epping Campus has agreed to host the school

The Andrews Labor Government is fixing one of the most congested and dangerous roads in Melbourne’s north with $131 million allocated to duplicate Yan Yean Road.
As part of the 2016-17 Victorian Budget, Labor MP Danielle Green today confirmed that Yan Yean Road will expand from two to four lanes, between Diamond Creek Road and Kurrak Road.
The 3.9km long duplication will also see upgrades to the River Avenue, Kurrak Road and Diamond Creek Road intersections.

Students at Diamond Valley College will enjoy more modern buildings, as the Andrews Labor Government continues to make Victoria the Education State.
The Member for Yan Yean Danielle Green MP today announced $2 million from the 2016/17 Victorian Budget will go towards an upgrade to the school’s ageing facilities, ensuring students have the modern spaces they need to learn.

The Victorian Budget 2016/17 is all about delivering on the things that Victorians need the most: good hospitals and schools, reliable roads and public transport, and secure jobs in growing industries – in Melbourne and across regional Victoria.

People living in Melbourne’s booming north will be connected to train services for the first time, with the Andrews Labor Government getting on with the Mernda Rail Extension.
The Victorian Budget 2016/17 provides $588 million to fully fund and deliver the project.

The Andrews Government has made a substantial funding announcement towards new change rooms at Wattle Glen War Memorial Reserve.
The Member for Yan Yean, Danielle Green, today announced the Labor Government will provide $100,000 to Nillumbik Shire Council towards the cost of the new change rooms.
“Wattle Glen War Memorial Reserve is a really popular local sporting venue and participants need modern, safe change rooms,” Ms Green said.
“I’m really happy I was able to play a part in delivering $100,000 towards the project,” she said.
“For too long, communities all over Victoria have had to contend with ageing facilities. We promised we’d help clubs update tired grounds and build the facilities they need and we’re delivering,” Ms Green said.
“Our grant to the Nillumbik Shire will go towards construction of two new accessible change rooms, umpire change rooms and accessible car parking,” she said.
The total cost of the project is $722,000.
“Grassroots sports are the lifeblood of the community and I know Wattle Glen War Memorial Reserve is a place where the community comes together to embrace a healthy and active lifestyle,” Ms Green said.
“I congratulate the Committee of Management and the users of the facility for their hard work and passion and I’m looking forward to seeing the upgraded facilities in the near future,” she said.
Media inquiries : 9432-9782.

The Andrews Government has made a substantial funding announcement towards new change rooms at Wattle Glen War Memorial Reserve.
The Member for Yan Yean, Danielle Green, today announced the Labor Government will provide $100,000 to Nillumbik Shire Council towards the cost of the new change rooms.
“Wattle Glen War Memorial Reserve is a really popular local sporting venue and participants need modern, safe change rooms,” Ms Green said.
“I’m really happy I was able to play a part in delivering $100,000 towards the project,” she said.
“For too long, communities all over Victoria have had to contend with ageing facilities. We promised we’d help clubs update tired grounds and build the facilities they need and we’re delivering,” Ms Green said.
“Our grant to the Nillumbik Shire will go towards construction of two new accessible change rooms, umpire change rooms and accessible car parking,” she said.
The total cost of the project is $722,000.
“Grassroots sports are the lifeblood of the community and I know Wattle Glen War Memorial Reserve is a place where the community comes together to embrace a healthy and active lifestyle,” Ms Green said.
“I congratulate the Committee of Management and the users of the facility for their hard work and passion and I’m looking forward to seeing the upgraded facilities in the near future,” she said.
Media inquiries : 9432-9782.

MS GREEN (Yan Yean) — I take pleasure in joining the debate on the bill before the house which will repeal the Medical Treatment Act 1988 and amend relevant provisions of the Guardianship and Administration Act 1986 and the Powers of Attorney Act 2014. The objective of the bill is to provide Victorians with a new, simplified legal process for medical treatment decision-making and give statutory recognition to advance care directives. This will allow people to record their preferences and to make choices as they come to the end of their life.
I also believe that the provisions in the bill provide additional protections, particularly for those people who live with disability. It is the opposite to what some have said, that rather than putting people with disability at risk, this actually offers a protection. Rather than having someone external making a value judgement about whether that person with a disability has quality of life, this means that at the get-go they can actually make those statements themselves.
I have been called upon on numerous occasions by the family of a young woman who lives in Wattle Glen. Ashlea has lived with disability all her life. She does not have a great amount of speech and has difficulty communicating. She lives her life in a motorised wheelchair and has to be reclined. She suffers a lot of infections, particularly respiratory infections, so she is frequently hospitalised for that reason. I have got to know Ashlea's family very well. She is hospitalised several times a year, and it is fine when she has gone to hospitals where she is known, but when she has on occasion been sent to a hospital not near where she lives, each night her family are concerned that maybe a health professional might make a value decision and may not resuscitate her, because they make a judgement, not knowing her, that she does not have a quality of life. They have regularly sought my intercession, and I have had to contact hospitals to make sure that her rights are respected and that her decision to live the life that she chooses is respected. A lot of people are focused on this being around end-of-life, but it can also be about a protection of life, and I think that we must have that.
The end of our life is not something that any of us want to have to contemplate, but for those who are afflicted with dreadful, lengthy illnesses that they know are going to end their lives I think it is incumbent upon us as politicians to provide the proper framework so that they do not suffer unnecessarily and can make choices.
I have known a number of people who have suffered from motor neurone disease. We know this disease is fatal. One of my political mentors, Peter Cleeland, suffered from this disease. It was just gut-wrenching. He was diagnosed in April. I saw him on Anzac Day and he was not able to walk around; he had a crutch. By September he was dead. Peter was an amazing member of Parliament; he was the federal member for McEwen. He had been a police officer and a lawyer. Prior to going into Parliament he served on the Diamond Valley Shire Council. He was conservative in a number of ways but very progressive in others. He campaigned for drug law reform because he saw that it was a health issue, not a criminal justice issue — and he was someone who had been a police officer and a lawyer. But when he was facing his death, having a keen mind and passion locked in a body that was shutting down on him, it was the most miserable thing. I was terribly afraid for him. It was fortunate that his death was relatively swift, but I would hate to think of anyone else that I love going through that.
A good friend of mine, Julie McKie, who I grew up with, her mum, Val McKie, suffered similar circumstances. She was a great woman. She was very active in the Catholic Church, she supported all the teachings, she was the parish secretary and she also had a very keen mind and was a very literate woman. But she said, 'Danielle, what am I going to be like? I won't be able to say that I'm still here inside this body as it shuts down'.
As legislators we need to be able to walk in the shoes of people like that and people with terrible, terrible cancers. I spoke this morning about Ashlea's aunt, Jenny Cuxson nee Morse, whose funeral I sadly missed yesterday. She passed away last week due to pancreatic cancer. I know that her family were so grateful for the care that she received from the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre. Centres like that are really providing support for people in their last hours and days and providing a more comfortable passing from this life. But not everyone has access to them, and those centres are not always nearby. They also do not cater for those who want to pass away at home surrounded by their loved ones.
I am very moved by the statistics that say that, worldwide, one-third of elderly patients receive futile treatment before they die. More than one-third of patients aged 60 or older receive invasive and potentially harmful hospital treatment during their last six months of life. According to a recent Australian review:
The interventions continued into the last two weeks of life, with admission to intensive care, chemotherapy, resuscitation and intensive cardiac monitoring potentially preventing patients from having a comfortable death and prolonging suffering rather than survival.
I think we need to put the choices in the hands of those who are suffering and make their last hours and days as comfortable as they want them to be so they are able to depart this life peacefully, surrounded by their loved ones. I lost my dad quickly. He had a heart attack on the cricket pitch when he was 45 years old. I still miss him to this day. When one thinks about how one actually wants to go, we all hope for a quick death. We need to support those who are suffering from illnesses that do not afford them a quick passing. I understand that some are fearful of this, but I reiterate the comments that I made at the outset: this actually protects people with disability and others by enabling them to say in writing what their advance care directives are and whether they want to be resuscitated.
I am really pleased and proud to be part of a government that has been courageous enough to have this conversation. The Premier indicated two years ago that we would go down this path. The health minister issued a discussion paper last year. There has been broad discussion in the community and I hope that means, as it has with other important things like organ donation, that we take away the fear of death and that we have these conversations in a loving way with our families and our loved ones. In having these conversations we as legislators are encouraging other people to have these conversations. This will mean that there is more up-front discussion and that relatives will not interfere unnecessarily, potentially prolonging their family member's suffering against their will. I think this is a very appropriate and carefully considered piece of legislation that is before the house. I indicate that I do not support the reasoned amendment proposed by the member for Box Hill. I commend this bill to the house.

MS GREEN (Yan Yean) — I take pleasure in joining the debate on the bill before the house which will repeal the Medical Treatment Act 1988 and amend relevant provisions of the Guardianship and Administration Act 1986 and the Powers of Attorney Act 2014. The objective of the bill is to provide Victorians with a new, simplified legal process for medical treatment decision-making and give statutory recognition to advance care directives. This will allow people to record their preferences and to make choices as they come to the end of their life.
I also believe that the provisions in the bill provide additional protections, particularly for those people who live with disability. It is the opposite to what some have said, that rather than putting people with disability at risk, this actually offers a protection. Rather than having someone external making a value judgement about whether that person with a disability has quality of life, this means that at the get-go they can actually make those statements themselves.
I have been called upon on numerous occasions by the family of a young woman who lives in Wattle Glen. Ashlea has lived with disability all her life. She does not have a great amount of speech and has difficulty communicating. She lives her life in a motorised wheelchair and has to be reclined. She suffers a lot of infections, particularly respiratory infections, so she is frequently hospitalised for that reason. I have got to know Ashlea's family very well. She is hospitalised several times a year, and it is fine when she has gone to hospitals where she is known, but when she has on occasion been sent to a hospital not near where she lives, each night her family are concerned that maybe a health professional might make a value decision and may not resuscitate her, because they make a judgement, not knowing her, that she does not have a quality of life. They have regularly sought my intercession, and I have had to contact hospitals to make sure that her rights are respected and that her decision to live the life that she chooses is respected. A lot of people are focused on this being around end-of-life, but it can also be about a protection of life, and I think that we must have that.
The end of our life is not something that any of us want to have to contemplate, but for those who are afflicted with dreadful, lengthy illnesses that they know are going to end their lives I think it is incumbent upon us as politicians to provide the proper framework so that they do not suffer unnecessarily and can make choices.
I have known a number of people who have suffered from motor neurone disease. We know this disease is fatal. One of my political mentors, Peter Cleeland, suffered from this disease. It was just gut-wrenching. He was diagnosed in April. I saw him on Anzac Day and he was not able to walk around; he had a crutch. By September he was dead. Peter was an amazing member of Parliament; he was the federal member for McEwen. He had been a police officer and a lawyer. Prior to going into Parliament he served on the Diamond Valley Shire Council. He was conservative in a number of ways but very progressive in others. He campaigned for drug law reform because he saw that it was a health issue, not a criminal justice issue — and he was someone who had been a police officer and a lawyer. But when he was facing his death, having a keen mind and passion locked in a body that was shutting down on him, it was the most miserable thing. I was terribly afraid for him. It was fortunate that his death was relatively swift, but I would hate to think of anyone else that I love going through that.
A good friend of mine, Julie McKie, who I grew up with, her mum, Val McKie, suffered similar circumstances. She was a great woman. She was very active in the Catholic Church, she supported all the teachings, she was the parish secretary and she also had a very keen mind and was a very literate woman. But she said, 'Danielle, what am I going to be like? I won't be able to say that I'm still here inside this body as it shuts down'.
As legislators we need to be able to walk in the shoes of people like that and people with terrible, terrible cancers. I spoke this morning about Ashlea's aunt, Jenny Cuxson nee Morse, whose funeral I sadly missed yesterday. She passed away last week due to pancreatic cancer. I know that her family were so grateful for the care that she received from the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre. Centres like that are really providing support for people in their last hours and days and providing a more comfortable passing from this life. But not everyone has access to them, and those centres are not always nearby. They also do not cater for those who want to pass away at home surrounded by their loved ones.
I am very moved by the statistics that say that, worldwide, one-third of elderly patients receive futile treatment before they die. More than one-third of patients aged 60 or older receive invasive and potentially harmful hospital treatment during their last six months of life. According to a recent Australian review:
The interventions continued into the last two weeks of life, with admission to intensive care, chemotherapy, resuscitation and intensive cardiac monitoring potentially preventing patients from having a comfortable death and prolonging suffering rather than survival.
I think we need to put the choices in the hands of those who are suffering and make their last hours and days as comfortable as they want them to be so they are able to depart this life peacefully, surrounded by their loved ones. I lost my dad quickly. He had a heart attack on the cricket pitch when he was 45 years old. I still miss him to this day. When one thinks about how one actually wants to go, we all hope for a quick death. We need to support those who are suffering from illnesses that do not afford them a quick passing. I understand that some are fearful of this, but I reiterate the comments that I made at the outset: this actually protects people with disability and others by enabling them to say in writing what their advance care directives are and whether they want to be resuscitated.
I am really pleased and proud to be part of a government that has been courageous enough to have this conversation. The Premier indicated two years ago that we would go down this path. The health minister issued a discussion paper last year. There has been broad discussion in the community and I hope that means, as it has with other important things like organ donation, that we take away the fear of death and that we have these conversations in a loving way with our families and our loved ones. In having these conversations we as legislators are encouraging other people to have these conversations. This will mean that there is more up-front discussion and that relatives will not interfere unnecessarily, potentially prolonging their family member's suffering against their will. I think this is a very appropriate and carefully considered piece of legislation that is before the house. I indicate that I do not support the reasoned amendment proposed by the member for Box Hill. I commend this bill to the house.